


Didn't Know I Had a Boyfriend

by kodzukuroo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Blushing, Childhood Friends, Childhood Friends to Lovers, Crushes, Except he didn't, Fake Relationship, Feelings Realization, Kozume Kenma - Freeform, KuroKen - Freeform, Kuroo Tetsurou - Freeform, M/M, Self-Discovery, akaashi is a softie pass it on, akaashi keiji - Freeform, bokuto is such a bro, bokuto koutarou - Freeform, but also a salty bitch, but he gets ignored by everyone rip, everyone is calling kuroo out, hand holding, he's so panicked, he's so sweet i love him, hinata shouyou - Freeform, kuroo got a girlfriend, kuroo is an oblivious mess, kuroo is so blindly in love, kuroo kinda wants to kiss kenma, prank gone wrong, shoyo is baby, there are like three swear words in it, they all think kuroo and kenma are together, tsukishima is the only smart one, tsukishima kei - Freeform, very confused feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:27:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23840761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kodzukuroo/pseuds/kodzukuroo
Summary: Kuroo has a genius idea: prank Bokuto, Akaashi, Shoyo, and Tsukishima into thinking he has a girlfriend. So, he borrows Kenma's hand for an incriminating picture.The prank doesn't go as expected when his friends all start thinking Kenma and Kuroo are together.Things get even worse when they start showing Kuroo all the sings he never noticed that he actually has a crush on Kenma, and Kuroo is forced to come to terms with all of his feelings.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji & Bokuto Koutarou, Akaashi Keiji & Hinata Shouyou, Akaashi Keiji & Kuroo Tetsurou, Akaashi Keiji & Tsukishima Kei, Bokuto Koutarou & Hinata Shouyou, Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou, Bokuto Koutarou & Tsukishima Kei, Hinata Shouyou & Kuroo Tetsurou, Hinata Shouyou & Tsukishima Kei, Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Kuroo Tetsurou & Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 5
Kudos: 176





	Didn't Know I Had a Boyfriend

Kuroo pressed his hands on his cheeks, trying to compose himself and put a serious face on. If he wanted the prank to work, he had to make it believable. He took a deep breath and walked out of the changing room and into the gym.

His friends and he had just finished training for that day, and Kuroo was waiting for that exact moment to put the prank in motion. It was a perfect time when no one would be able to ask too many questions since they would have to go home soon, and they would just be left with the dazzling shock of the unexpected news: Kuroo had a girlfriend.

Well, he didn't actually have one, that's why it was just a prank. But Kuroo believed he could pull this off. 

Number one: he was a popular guy between girls. Even if none of the girls pinning after him had ever caught his interest (they just weren't his type), it was still believable that maybe, finally, he didn't reject one of their confessions.

Number two: he had a best friend with very petite hands who he used to take a fake romantic picture of them holding hands. Convincing Kenma was harder than expected. He never cared much for Kuroo's weird antics: after all of those years spent together, he had gotten used to them. That's why Kuroo thought bribing him with apple pie would've been just about enough.

Yet he had made a bigger fuss than Kuroo expected.

\-----------

_"Kenma. Can you do your best friend, who you have known since childhood, a small, little, tiny favor?"_

_Kenma glared at him for a second, before returning to his videogame._

_"What do you want?"_

_"Firstly, know that if you agree I'll buy you apple pie this week," Kuroo said, making puppy eyes at the unresponding friend sitting beside him._

_"Try and bribe me all you want." Kenma answered, but Kuroo knew he would see it as an easy win for him: he would have to do a little, insignificant thing and would get free food in exchange._

_"Okay, so," Kuroo immediately jumped, crossing his legs and placing himself in front of Kenma. "I want to prank Bokuto, Akaashi, Tsukishima, and Shoyo, and make them think I got a girlfriend!"_

_Usually, when Kuroo came up with one of his weird plans Kenma limited himself to listening and rolling his eyes. But this time he looked at him straight in the eyes, an eyebrow raised._

_"Why though?"_

_Kuroo was puzzled by the unexpected questions. "Why? 'Cause it's gonna be fun."_

_Kenma seemed to think about it, actually taking his focus away from his videogame. What was there to ponder? It was just a dumb joke._

_"It's lame," Kenma said coldly, staring at Kuroo._

_He didn't answer, simply staring back at Kenma. He was aware of the fact that, sometimes, he pulled off some lame pranks. But he didn't feel there was anything bad about this one._

_"It's too much of a classic," the blond boy explained himself._

_"But it can still be funny! Why are you being so moody? I just need to snap a picture of us holding hands!"_

_"You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend?" Kenma asked stunned._

_"No!" Kuroo snapped back. "Just that picture. You have cute, small hands. They won't bat an eye!"_

_Kenma broke their eye contact, quickly fiddling again with his videogame without saying anything. Kuroo watched as the other boy allowed his hair to fall over his face, curtaining his expression from him, hiding as if Kuroo had just said something scandalous._

_"It would be more believable if you just pretended to date Bokuto or something like that..." he mumbled, raising his game's volume._

_"But if I did that then he would know of the prank! Can you imagine Bokuto's reaction upon discovering I allegedly have a girlfriend? I can't miss out on that! C'mon Kenma... Why is it such a big deal?" Kuroo whined._

_"It's not." Kenma immediately snapped. "It's just... You know what? It doesn't matter. I'll never understand what goes on in that stupid head of yours."_

_Usually, Kuroo would take that as a harmless tease and that would be what it was. But it almost sounded like Kenma was being bitter about it. What was there to get about Kuroo's stupid head? He was trying to pull a prank, it's not like he was doing anything bad or illegal._

_Kenma shifted, sitting beside Kuroo and extending an open hand towards him. "Snap this picture so I can go back to my game already."_

\-----------

He walked out of the changing room, pretending to text someone with a big, ominous smile on his face. When Shoyo called for him in his usual over the top and energetic demeanor, Kuroo pretended to be too focused on his phone to notice.

As he suspected, that immediately caught Bokuto's attention. 

Bokuto was Kuroo's best friend after Kenma, but his respective bonds with the two boys were very different: when he was with Kenma, Kuroo's teasing was always kinder and he acted way more considerate. With Bokuto, on the other hand, it was a constant screaming and dumb comments about everything. 

The boy immediately ran at Kuroo's side. "What are you doing? Mh? Texting someone?" He said with a huge smirk.

When he got close enough, Kuroo started hiding his phone's screen, trying to fake a bashful look on his face.

"What? No. Of course not."

"Ohh, Kuroo-san!" Shoyo burst excitedly. "What are you looking at? Is it a volleyball video? Let me see!"

Kuroo tried his best to hide a satisfied smile after getting the two's attention. So, he proceeded with the plan and "accidentally" let Shoyo get a hold of his phone.

"Give it back!" He fakely protested, glancing over at Akaashi and Tsukishima who, unsurprisingly, were still busier minding their own business instead of involving themselves in the loud boys' screaming. But it wouldn't be for long, and Kuroo knew it.

"Ohh! What's this! What... Oh!" Immediately, Shoyo's innocent face was tinged red. Kuroo couldn't help but find it funny how a simple picture of two people holding hands could get him embarrassed, he had the mind (and height) of a child. "Kuroo-san?! Is this you and... someone?"

At those words, he saw Bokuto go through a thousand different facial expressions all at once. "Hey, hey, hey!" He yelled, jogging over to Shoyo. "Let me see that!" 

He ripped the phone from the smaller boy's hands and put it excessively near his face. Realization seemed to fall upon him like a rock suddenly dropping on his head from the sky. He let out some soft sounds of disbelief and Kuroo was pleased to see that his behavior had started to get Akaashi's attention.

"Akaashi! Akaashi!" Bokuto called him with his weird pronunciation of the name, as if he was just reading Kuroo's thoughts about the stoic boy. "You need to come and see this... this... What is this!?" He finally snapped at Kuroo.

Remembering he had to stay in character and pretend he had just been caught red-handed, Kuroo ran a hand through his messy hair and mumbled something incoherent to peak Bokuto's curiosity and impatience even more.

In the meantime, Akaashi had made his way towards the boys, and Tsukishima followed shortly behind him, not wanting to be left alone when all of that ruckus was going on right beside him.

"What is it?" Akaashi asked. Kuroo was finding it hard to hold in the laughter, especially when Bokuto handed his spiker the phone and his face, usually serious and untraceable of emotion whenever he wasn't playing volleyball, lit up with confusion.

"Mh?" Tsukishima leaned over Akaashi's shoulder, towering with his height. As soon as he saw the picture, his usual mischievous grin appeared on his face. "Has rooster-head managed to get his hands on an actual, living, breathing girl? Hinata! It looks like you might also have a chance sometime in the future... if you build up some muscles, that is."

Shoyo threw himself towards Tsukishima, who simply blocked him with a hand. Phase one of the prank had gone smoothly, now he would have to deal with a small aftermath of questions and try to keep up the act as long as he could.

"No way you got a girlfriend. I mean, no way you... uh? Who even is she? Do you have a picture of her face? Is she from your school?" Bokuto asked without even breathing in between the sentences.

Kuroo was surprised that Bokuto out of everyone was interrogating him. He was expecting him to fall desperately to his knees, yelling something like: "You have a girlfriend and I don't! Nooo!", sulking at the fact. Or, at the very least, he expected him to start teasing Kuroo a lot. Yet he looked genuinely confused. Was it that hard to believe that Kuroo could get a girlfriend? What wasn't clicking?

"Why so many questions? You jealous?" Kuroo tried to push a dramatic reaction out of Bokuto.

"I just..." he squinted his eyes towards Kuroo's phone, which Akaashi was still observing intently. "Really, man? I don't know, this girl, whoever she is... you haven't talked about any particular girl recently, have you? Where does she come from?" 

Was that an issue to Bokuto? How was it that he, who was always the first to believe anything he got told, was now deciding to get a functioning brain cell, now that Kuroo was trying to pull a prank?

"Well, isn't Kuroo-san popular with the girls?" Shoyo asked, tilting his head. "Maybe a cute one just confessed today and he decided to go for it."

Kuroo arched his eyebrows. Akaashi and Bokuto seemed to be on different pages than Shoyo and Tsukishima. Was it because they knew him better? Could they see through his lie?

"Yeah but... Kuroo wouldn't just go for it like that." Bokuto commented.

"Who says?" Kuroo snapped back, now taking the matter as a personal offense more than a simple joke. For fuck's sake! Was it that unbelievable he could get a girlfriend? What kind of opinion did his friends have of him and his love life?

"I say, man! And you know I'm right. You never acted that way when you got confessions from girls."

"Well, maybe I never did 'cause I didn't like the other girls but this one clicked right, uh?"

"Yeah sure, because everyone here believes that's the actual reason Sir Kuroo didn't get a girlfriend sooner," Bokuto answered, sarcasm heavy in his tone.

Kuroo froze. So there was something his friends thought of him that he didn't know about. 

Any time his friends complained that he got so many confessions but refused them all, he always said they just "didn't seem like my type.", or "she doesn't like me, she doesn't even know me!"

And it always seemed to Kuroo like those reasons sounded fine to everyone around him. Yet they didn't, because what Bokuto was now telling him was that he believed Kuroo was lying about that. And if Bokuto believed he was lying, there were great chances he wasn't the only one.

"What? What are you even saying right now?" He asked with a serious voice, the prank he was trying to pull off the last of his thoughts as the situation seemed to get tenser.

But, before Bokuto could answer, Akaashi spoke up. 

"I see... Kuroo-san, why are you lying to us?" He asked with a soft smile on his face and... wait. Kuroo thought he had hallucinated. That was a soft smile on Akaashi's face, the soft smile he would get only when in the middle of an intense match when he tossed the ball, and Bokuto hit it with a perfect spike, jumping enthusiastically and bragging to the audience. But nothing of that was happening.

"Uh?" Kuroo simply said, not managing to add anything else. Had he discovered it was a prank? Why was he reacting that way then?

"You should know we're your friends, we wouldn't judge you for something like this. You can just say it to us like it is." 

Why was he making it seem so serious? He had just caught him in the middle of a prank, it wasn't the first time. Why be so formal about it all of a sudden?

"What's going on? What's he lying about? No girlfriend?" Tsukishima asked curiously.

"Look here." He said, pointing at the screen. Kuroo himself got closer to see what he was pointing at and his heart stopped. He had been an idiot not to think about that, and by "that" he meant the mole on Kenma's wrist. 

But wait, Kuroo thought, it's just a mole. How did Akaashi see it and immediately think of Kenma?

"This is Kenma's hand," Akaashi confirmed Kuroo's doubts: his lie had been discovered.

"Well, you caught me, but..." before he could even continue explaining himself, he was interrupted by Bokuto.

"Y'see? That's what I was talking about!" He threw an arm around Kuroo's neck, pushing him into a crushing hug.

"Ohh... I see how it is." Shoyo nodded seriously. "Kuroo-san," he then said, putting a hand solemnly on his heart. "I may be a little dumb at times, but I am not ignorant. I am very considerate and openminded. If you want to keep this a secret, I understand. After all, in today's society, it can be hard... But there's no need to pretend if you're talking to us!"

Kuroo was beyond shocked. He had no idea what Shoyo was talking about, or why Bokuto was so happy, or why Akaashi was giving him that stupid smile.

"I don't understand..." he mumbled under his breath.

"Aw, don't make me cry!" Bokuto whined as if Kuroo had just said something heart-shattering. "It's okay. I will support you and personally punch anyone that tries to bother you!"

Kuroo blinked, dumbfounded. 

"Mh... childhood friends, spiker and setter, taller and shorter... really seems like such a clichè, it was bound to happen," Tsukishima noted seriously, receiving a nod of approval from Akaashi.

"Wait," Kuroo said out loud. "What do you mean? What was bound to happen? Bound?" He was starting to get a hunch of what the other boys were insinuating and his heart responded by accelerating too rapidly for Kuroo's liking.

"That you and Kenma would get together!" Bokuto simply said, words sounding perfectly natural and genuine.

Kuroo was speechless. He thought they had understood he was just pranking them, but they thought that picture wasn't just taken for a prank, but it was an actual, serious picture. That he and... oh God. They thought that he and Kenma were together. That they were a thing.

For some reason, even if the opportunity seemed perfect to keep on pranking them, Kuroo didn't feel like it at all. It was one thing to convince them he was dating a girl that didn't even exist, it was another thing if it wasn't a fake girl but his closest friend ever. And not just because if Kenma found out, which he would, Kuroo would get into lots of trouble (and would have to pay for lots of food he couldn't afford to make himself forgiven), but also because... it simply seemed too much, it was a line he didn't want to cross.

But most importantly, what struck Kuroo was...

"Wait. So you don't believe me if I say I have a girlfriend. But you see a whatever mole on the wrist and it's suddenly obvious that that's Kenma. And no one is questioning that?"

The others looked at him like he had just said something in a foreign language.

"Well, of course. It makes way more sense for you two to be together than for you to... get with a random girl." Akaashi responded.

"How does it make more sense?! Kenma's my best friend, we've known each other since we were children! What goes on in your head?"

The boys looked at each other, eyebrows furrowed and eyes scanning Kuroo's distress.

"Look," Tsukishima started. "I imagine it must be hard, but we aren't here to judge your sexuality, you know? It's perfectly normal if you..."

"Hold on, what?" Kuroo interrupted him. 

He needed a second to take in what was happening around him. Did it seem that natural to his friends that he and Kenma could be together? That Kuroo could like guys? Where did all of those assumptions come from?

"Are you okay, Kuroo-san?" Shoyo asked, getting near the taller boy and putting a hand on his arm.

"Why do you think that?" Kuroo ignored the orange-haired boy, pointing his gaze at Akaashi instead. "Why would you think it's so obvious that, oh, Kuroo and Kenma are boyfriends and do boyfriend stuff. Me and Kenma. Those kinds of things?" Kuroo didn't even know why he made his question so specific, because now he had put those thoughts into his mind. And he didn't like it. He didn't like imagining Kenma and he cuddling, being so close, kissing, or... he felt his face burning hot, his hands growing unnaturally colder. No, it wasn't that way and there was no reason for Akaashi, Bokuto, Tsukishima, or Shoyo to think otherwise.

"Why are you talking about it as if you hadn't always acted so close with each other?" 

"You know people can be friends, right? I'm close with Bokuto too, does that mean he's my boyfriend?" Kuroo replied with an argument that seemed perfectly logical to him. Why would they ever think just because he was "close" with Kenma then they might have been a couple?

"I'm glad we're close bro, but you know it ain't the same between me and you and Kenma and you. Like, what you guys have is on a whole other plane, and not just because you're together with him now." Bokuto said seriously, meaning those words.

"No?" Kuroo wanted to say, but it sounded more like a question. His mind was starting to get confused. The prank gone wrong, everyone thinking Kenma was his boyfriend, them talking about it as if it made perfect sense and he was the only idiot not understanding. They were making him confused, and he didn't enjoy that at all. He wasn't okay with suddenly thinking of Kenma and he that way, and he wasn't okay with the way it made him feel. What way did it even make him feel? What was that feeling? It must have been there just because everyone was teasing him about this relationship that didn't even exist. Otherwise, if there were any feelings like that in his heart, why would he have noticed only now?

"Wait a second," Tsukishima interrupted. "I feel we aren't all on the same wavelength here."

"Why do you say that?" Shoyo asked him.

Tsukishima, instead of answering Shoyo's question, turned towards Kuroo. "Kuroo. Are you together with Kenma?"

Kuroo shook his head and heard Bokuto let out a soft gasp. "I just asked him to get that picture so I could prank you guys and make you believe I had a girlfriend..." obviously, nothing had gone according to Kuroo's plan.

"You asked Kenma to pretend to be your... girlfriend? To prank us? That was the prank all along? You being with a girl?" Akaashi asked, looking stunned but tense at the same time, his eyes getting thinner as he squinted them, looking straight into Kuroo's.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, fuck," Bokuto said, covering his face with his hand and turning his back towards Kuroo.

"Too bad... I thought you were so cute together." Shoyo said with genuine regret in his voice, making Kuroo's eyes jolt wide open with shock again.

"Look Kuroo, I'm sorry we said those things, we..." Akaashi began apologizing but was interrupted by Tsukishima's cold voice.

"Apologizing? You shouldn't be apologizing for what just happened, rather for the fact that your friend right here seems to have nothing figured out of his feelings, and you are fine to leave him like that until he does something drastic like getting into a relationship." His sudden seriousness surprised everyone, leaving an awkward silence between the boys.

"Tsukishima! Be a bit more considerate or I'm telling Daichi. People can't just go around and put their noses into their friend's love life when they want to." Shoyo angrily menaced.

The tall blond sighed, looking at Shoyo for a brief moment before commenting, seemingly to no one. "Of course you would think that, I guess oblivious idiots are just born that way." Wait, had he just called Kuroo an oblivious idiot?

"Me? What am I oblivious of?" Shoyo asked offended.

Tsukishima ignored the questions of the shorter boy, directing his gaze at Akaashi again and looking him straight in the eyes.

"It may be embarrassing. I would never have such a conversation with my friends, I wouldn't even know where to being. But..." he turned towards Kuroo. "You know, it's not pleasant to confront your feelings, but do you think it's going to end any better if you just keep hiding them away?"

After saying that, he turned around and started leaving. Shoyo quickly bowed to the older boys before following the blond, still making a fuss over the fact he had been called an oblivious idiot.

After a few seconds of silence in which the three boys left there only stared at the ground awkwardly, Kuroo spoke up.

"You don't get to speak about my feelings the way you want. What would you know if I liked Kenma or not?" He said, but his tone was quiet and he didn't sound so sure of himself. He found that frustrating: just a few minutes before, he would've said that same sentence with absolute certainty, but now whatever had just happened had made him unsure of his feelings. It wasn't pleasant at all, Kuroo felt like a mess.

For a lifetime, he was friends with Kenma, and it was just that. But now he had to put everything on hold, questioning every moment they shared. Did he have feelings for Kenma? Or were his gestures and words all out of pure friendship? After years spent together, it felt insane to even consider such a possibility, yet he couldn't stop himself. Did he... have a crush on Kenma? 

"Have you never consider it? That there might be something more between you two?" Bokuto asked in a sweet tone, stepping closer to Kuroo and resting a hand on his back.

Kuroo shook his head. "No... maybe the signs were there? Maybe I just never thought it to be possible that I... I don't know. It seems like you guys have a clearer idea than I do."

Kuroo was shocked at how the situation had turned out. From a stupid joke, he went to being a distressed mess, wondering whether he was so stupid and oblivious that he missed all the signs everybody else around him seemed to have already caught on.

"Why do you think it's weird that I act differently towards you than towards Kenma?" Kuroo asked Bokuto, sitting down on the grass. "I mean, you are very different people so it's obvious I'm going to treat you differently. You're loud and obnoxious, he's quite and more sensitive. You're opposites." He was rambling, running a nervous hand between his hair, making it even messier than it was before.

"You see..." Akaashi said, while both him and Bokuto sat down beside Kuroo. "That's true, and it's perfectly normal to treat people differently based on who you're dealing with. The point is the type of different you treat Kenma, and not just compared to Bokuto but everyone else around you."

Kuroo hummed, trying to think how that could let Akaashi and Bokuto in on the fact that he allegedly had a crush on Kenma. After all, wasn't it kinda obvious he would treat Kenma very differently, taking into account that they had been friends for so long and they were so important for each other? But now Kuroo was left questioning how much they were important to each other.

Upon seeing Kuroo had fallen deep in thought, Akaashi started speaking again. 

"What about all the little gestures you always do for him? You know him so well you always know what goes on in his head and what he wants before he even says anything. It just feels so domestic, you know?"

"You always make sure to feed him 'cause you know he forgets to eat when he plays videogames, you're super careful he doesn't injure himself while playing, you bring him into conversations by mentioning stuff he enjoys..." Bokuto started explaining.

He was right. Kuroo was always very considerate of the people around him, especially when it came to Kenma. Kuroo knew how Kenma often isolated himself in his games and thoughts, that's why Kuroo was there to always remind him he was on planet earth and snap him back to reality.

"I don't think about them before doing it," Kuroo explained. 

Bokuto smiled widely. "That's even sweeter and more..." he glanced at Akaashi briefly, receiving a nod from the other boy before saying the last word. "...romantic?" He said hesitantly.

Kuroo felt his face burning hot. He put his hands on his cheeks, covering them from the other two boys. He was pretty sure his blush was now evident and his face was turning red. The word romantic referred to the way he acted towards Kenma made his heart leap.

"And I guess you've never seen yourself looking at him," Akaashi said with a small smile. "You look really..." he stopped, looking at Bokuto for help in finding the right words.

"Soft. You look like a small child who just got the best mark in a creative assignment at school and is proudly showing it off to all of his relatives."

Kuroo burrowed his face even deeper in his hands, whining loudly as his embarrassment grew even bigger.

"And you always seem to be looking for physical contact with Kenma, even when it's not necessary. That's a sign someone has a crush on you." 

"Ohh... Akaashi! I didn't know you were an expert in crushes," Bokuto said amazed.

Akaashi made an embarrassed expression, turning his head the other way and muttering: "Hasn't everyone looked up sings someone has a crush on you at least once in their life?"

The other two boys shook their head and Akaashi sighed. "I can't tell if you're oblivious, afraid to confront your feelings, or just tops."

Kuroo and Bokuto let out a laugh, coming smaller from Kuroo's side because of the mixed feelings troubling him.

"I have no idea what to think," Kuroo sighed, letting himself fall laying onto the grass. "Do I have feelings for Kenma? Do I not? Some part of me is telling me that if I never thought about it before then it means there are no feelings, otherwise I would've realized already. But another part of me isn't willing to say for sure I don't like him. And I don't know who to listen to."

Bokuto and Akaashi looked at Kuroo, deep in thought to find a way to help their friend sort through feelings they thought he had a better understanding of, yet he didn't seem to at all.

"I'm sad for you," Bokuto said with a pout. "I thought you knew you had feelings for Kenma! I thought the real reason you were always rejecting every girl was that, in reality, you had a crush on Kenma and didn't want to admit it." 

"I just didn't like them..."

"But we heard you describe your ideal type, you know? When we had that sleepover at the training camp, and we were playing truth or dare, you got asked to describe your ideal type. It seems like some girls that confessed to you matched perfectly with it. That's why we thought there was something else going on." Akaashi explained.

"Those girls don't know me, that's why I don't like them back. 'Cause I don't know who or what they like, but it's not the real me." 

Bokuto groaned, putting a hand against his forehead. "You see what you're saying?" Kuroo looked back at him, confused. The other boy started talking again: "Most relationships start between two people that don't know each other much, through their relationship they then start to know each other better. But the way you want it, someone that already knows you for who you really are... Do you see where I'm going with this? Only a real friend knows that about you. I feel like only Kenma knows who you genuinely are, in all of your aspects. And the same goes the other way around: no one knows Kenma like you do."

Kuroo found himself surprised at how much sense that argument made. He had never put that much thought into it, but in fact, he probably wouldn't end up dating someone he didn't know for at the very least a year. If the other person didn't know Kuroo well, he felt there was no point in the relationship: who knows how many things of Kuroo's behavior they would discover and wouldn't like? And if you fall for someone without knowing who they are, are you falling for them or for an image you created in your head? At that point, you would be gambling: get into a relationship and hope the imagine matches for the major part the real thing. And Kuroo wasn't a fan of the idea.

It was also true that Kenma and Kuroo knew each other on a level that was hard to reach. It was more than two friends meeting and telling each other everything that happened in their respective pasts, because Kuroo and Kenma lived in their respective pasts, they were sharing all those moments, living them together. They needed no telling because they were both there when it happened.

Also, now that Akaashi mentioned it, Kuroo noticed even the description of his ideal type matched Kenma: "small, longish hair, likes sweet things, likes cats, is smart and observant, doesn't reject cuddles," that's what he had said back then. He was thinking about girls, but inadvertently he ended up listing a series of qualities Kenma also happened to have. Only maybe he didn't "happen" to have them, but Kuroo's brain was already subconsciously aware of his feelings. If that was the case, Kuroo wondered why in the world his brain would think it was a good idea to keep the fact from him. Kenma was right: Kuroo had a "stupid head" that was hard to understand. 

"Why did you never confront me? If you were so sure I had a crush on Kenma, why did you never come up and ask me?" Kuroo asked Bokuto.

"I didn't want to... It just didn't seem nice for me to..." Bokuto raised his gaze at Kuroo, looking out for his reaction as he finished the sentence: "...to force you to come out."

Oh. That was also a thing Kuroo should be considering. He took a shaky breath, feeling both boys rest a hand on his shoulders at the same time. 

Come out, uh? He guessed if he did like Kenma, it also meant more than that: he liked boys, at least to some extent. And what did that mean? He had never thought of his sexuality has nothing else but "straight", yet there he was.

"Do you think I may be gay?" He asked the other two, tired of circling his thoughts.

"There are many more things you can be, you know? Different labels fit different people based on who they like. Or you could just not label yourself, forever, or just until you're comfortable enough." Akaashi started saying with confidence, trying to ease Kuroo into all of that information. "It's not going to be a sudden realization, you can't expect to understand right now what the perfect label for you is. And that's okay. It must be hard to suddenly come to terms with the fact that your horizons are wider than just girls, but you know we're here for you, right?"

"Yeah! After all, it's been a while since we started thinking you like Kenma and we've always been fine with it. And you saw Tsukishima and Shoyo too, they had no issue whatsoever with it."

"But why have I never thought of it before?!" Kuroo found himself yelling without even meaning to. He was so frustrated, suddenly being bombarder with self-realization when he just wanted to pull a stupid prank on his stupid friends who were now counseling him about his sexuality and his feelings for Kenma.

"It's not your fault!" Akaashi quickly said. "That's just how we grow up, that's how our parents and society condition us. We grow up seeing only straights and no representation for anything else. And if you never see a bisexual person, and never hear the term, how are you supposed to know what it is? How are you supposed to know there is such a concept as liking both girls and boys? It's the way it is, sadly. But it's through getting support and having people that can tell you of these things that you can understand yourself."

It made sense. Kuroo could probably count on the tip of his fingers the amount of not-straight couples or just not-straight people he saw openly on tv or other media. And, when he did see them, he didn't think much of it because he had just assumed since he was a little child that he liked girls and that was it, simply because... because he was told, he guessed. 

Kuroo bit his lower lip, and silence fell between the three boys once more. The situation was crazy, it almost seemed like a fever dream.

So, he started thinking. More specifically, he started thinking about Kenma, which lead to him realizing he thought about Kenma a lot, even before this situation. Why did Kenma react badly to the joke? Did Kenma eat today? Did he already buy that new game he wanted? Oh wow, look how much he improved at volley! 

It seemed like most of his thoughts circled back to Kenma. What other sings could Kuroo think of for when you have a crush on someone?

Getting happy and giddy? Hanging out with Kenma always made him happy and impatient of getting out of lessons, even if he knew hanging out with him meant mostly talking while Kenma nodded and played videogames quietly.

Giving him lots of attention? Kuroo always did that to Kenma. He inadvertently complimented him a lot. 

He bought Kenma lots of gifts: every time he was at the store and saw something cute with a cat on it, or something of a franchise he knew Kenma liked (and he knew every franchise he enjoyed), he always considered buying it and, if affordable, he didn't think twice of actually purchasing it. 

He gave Kenma his food if he was hungry, his hoodie if he was cold, his phone if the battery of his had run too low...

And he fell back on the thoughts he had before, the ones he tried to haunt away as soon as they came: those of Kenma and he being together. Would he ever kiss Kenma? He tried to imagine the scene, uncharted territory he had never gone through, and felt a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, getting louder and warmer the more he thought about that possibility. 

Yes, he told himself, he would want to kiss Kenma. It was hard to admit but... oh, wait. He had to backtrack. He definitely wanted to kiss him. He really, really wanted to try that now. The more he thought about doing it, the more he wanted to go to Kenma's house uninvited, barge into his room while he was probably playing videogames, and kiss him.

And now, thinking of Kenma and he holding hands, Kenma and he cuddling, maybe when they were over at each other's house, maybe while Kenma was wearing Kuroo's hoodie like he sometimes did when he was cold... And maybe even more than that. 

He felt his heart thump against his ribs loudly, and he thought he could hear his blood rush rapidly through all of his body because of the sudden over-pumping of the heart. The feeling in his stomach had expanded to his chest, and his body was unable to stay still.

Soon enough, because of a series of reactions Kuroo couldn't bring himself to understand in any possible way, the stress, tension, and anxiousness of before turned into euphoria.

He suddenly felt incredibly happy about his newfound feelings. And while he still was a bit nervous about other things (coming out? Having feelings for your childhood friend? Being rejected?), the pleasing feelings the thought of Kenma brought up clashed with those worries in a weird sensation that made Kuroo's limbs tingle with anticipation.

"You know what?" Kuroo said, standing up and brushing the grass off of his jeans.

"What?" Bokuto and Akaashi both asked at the same time.

"Yeah, I think you're right. No, let me rephrase that: you are right. I do have a crush on Kenma. Wow, that's crazy!" Kuroo laughed, running a hand through his hair while the other two boys smiled at each other.

"You wanna know one more thing?"

Bokuto looked up at him with anticipation, and Akaashi simply titled his head to the side curiously.

"I'm in my third year of high school and I just realized this, it feels like I've lost a bit of time since you guys knew it way before I did. So, it seems useless to waste any more time. I officially announce..." he faked a drum roll and proclaimed with a solemn voice: "Fuck this! I am asking Kenma to come over to my house as soon as possible and I'm telling him all about this stupid prank, how I miserably failed, and how miserably oblivious and stupid I am!" 

The other two started laughing, raising to their feet and patting Kuroo on the shoulder as they all started walking away.

"Man! I'm glad it all ended for the best!" Bokuto exclaimed.

"Don't speak so fast, I still haven't confessed yet." 

"Oh, don't worry Kuroo-san," Akaashi comforted him as Kuroo took out his phone to text Kenma. "I'm fairly certain you two will get together for real, believe me when I say that."

**Author's Note:**

> I got the inspiration for this short story from a kuroken comic! Sadly, I couldn't find the name of the artist anywhere, and I don't understand what's written in the watermark :( (edit: the artist should be oink8 on instagram, twitter, and tumblr)  
> Credits for the inspiration to the artist, whoever they are!


End file.
